Tag: "Transit"

Today, I want to offer the fourth of my recommendations to reform U.S. surface transportation policy. I advise eliminating federal-aid gas tax funding for all non-highway uses. The federal highway transportation program is structured as a users-pay/users-benefit system with fuel taxes funding construction and maintenance of the Interstate and national highway system. Over the last […]

Ever since Japan built the first high-speed rail line in the world linking Tokyo to Osaka in 1964, U.S. train advocates have been lobbying for true high-speed rail in the U.S. While France, Germany, Spain and recently China have built high-speed rail systems, the U.S. has resisted for many reasons. High-speed rail works most effectively […]

Today, I want to offer the third of my recommendations to reform U.S. surface transportation policy. I request that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) analyze their long-range transportation plans’ ability to reduce congestion. Under federal law, MPOs are required to create Long Range Transportation Plans every four years (if deemed in non-attainment) or every five years […]

Approximately every six years, Congress reauthorizes U.S. surface transportation policy. One of these reauthorizations is overdue, providing an opportunity to make U.S. transportation policy more free-market oriented. I have chosen six programs or policies that badly need to be changed. Over the next two weeks, I will summarize each of these programs. My first recommendation […]

The California high-speed rail project is an out-of-control train careening down the tracks. Everybody knows the project is a disaster in the making. But Governor Jerry Brown and California’s political elite are so enamored with being remembered, they are less concerned with whether it is in a good or a bad way. Earlier this month, […]

Many state departments of transportation are facing a perfect storm. As parts of their Interstate systems reach the end of their design life, the gas taxes which make up most of their funding stream are declining in real value due to inflation and increased fuel efficiency. There are two solutions to this problem. The first […]

Many large, urban communities are interested in offering high-quality low-cost private transit service. But federal regulations and union rules make providing such service cost prohibitive. The following story examines transit service in an Atlanta metro county with the highest percentage of transit-dependent riders in the state. It shows how the private market offered high-quality service […]

In my last post we examined how to create a local free-market transportation policy. This posting will examine how to create a similar policy on the state level where Republicans will control 32 governorships in 2015, almost 2/3 of the U.S. total. Most states lack a comprehensive transportation vision. Many depend on Washington D.C. for […]

In my previous blog post we examined how to create a national free-market transportation policy. This posting will examine how to create a similar policy on the local level. Unlike the federal and state levels, the make-up of local government varies by location. While major cities, close-in suburbs, and some small towns tend to be under […]

The recent congressional elections and the Republican’s new majority in the Senate mark a good time to analyze U.S. transportation policy. The U.S. has not had a comprehensive transportation vision since the completion of the Interstate system in 1991. Although the three most recent six-year transportation acts, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the […]